Carpet-stretcher



(No Model.)

W. A. ARNOLD 8u E. M. BABCGGK. CARPET STRBTCHER Patented Apr. 5, 1892.

M n vfvwentolas UNTTED STATES ATENT Trice.

VELINGTON A ARNOLD AND EDl/VIN M. BABCOOK, OF MORAVIA, NEV YORK.

CARPET-STRETCH ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 472,204, dated April 5, 1892.

Application led March 2l, 1891.

To all whom it may concern.'

Be it ,known that we, WELINGroN A. AR- NOLD and EDWIN M. BABCOCK, ofMoravia, in the county of Cayuga, in the State ofNeW York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Oarpet-Stretchers, of which the following, taken in connection with the accomU panying drawings, is a full, clear, and eXact description.

Our invention relates to carpet-stretchers, and particularly to that class in which a tackdriving mechanism is connected to the stretcher.

Our object is to produce an improved combined carpet stretcher and tacker which will stretch the carpet and at the same time carry the tack out of contact with the carpet, but in position for driving at the proper point by means of a vertical plunger.

Our invention consists in the several novel features of construction and operation hereinafter described, and which are specifically set forth in the claims hereunto annexed. It is constructed as follows, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a side perspective of the machine complete with the handle broken oft' to reduce its length. Fig. 2 is a frontelevation of same. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional elevation on line .fr fr, Fig. 2, showinga tack in position ready for driving. Fig. 4 is a like view showing the plunger depressed and the tack driven.

A is the head-block, provided with a handle a, shown as consisting of a body and forked arms secured at their extremities to the block, and b is a tack-receiver suspended between said arms. The lower face of said block is provided with a series of teeth pointing forward, as shown. An opening is made verticallyT through said block, in which the plunger c is mounted, provided with a stop-collar CZ and projecting upward through the bracket e and having a flattened head, and f is a return-spring coiled around the plunger. A tack-tube 7?, is inserted diagonally into the block, its lower end opening into the vertical opening, so that a tack placed in this tube will slide down and pass into position beneath the plunger. A recess is cut in the frontface of the block, in which we mount the frame m,

` vbe held upright thereby.

having npturned ends, as shown,through Serial No. 385,897. (No model.)

which the slide-rods n are passed provided with heads r, beveled on their inner faces, as shown, and having return-springs around the rods, as shown, said heads being in vertical alignment with the plunger and across the bottom of the plunger-opening, so that the point of the tack comingbeneath the plunger will be between said heads, and the tack will Then when the carpet is stretched as desired the plunger is forced down, the tack is forced through between the heads, forcing them apart, and through the carpet and into the flooring, and then when the pressure is removed the spring returns the plunger to its normal position, and the heads are again closed together by the spring behind them, ready for another tack to be taken from the receiver and dropped into the diagonal tube or tack-conduit as before.

We are aware that priorto ourinvention comr bined carpet stretchers and tackers have been v used in which tack-holding mechanism has been applied to the hollow of a tube in which a hammer operates, and that a feeding-tube has been used in connection therewith, and we do not therefore desire to broadly claim such a construction; but

l. A carpet-stretcher consisting of a headblock provided with teeth in its lower face" and with a central vertical opening, a tube therein scarfed off onboth sides at the bottom, a plunger in the tube, provided with a stop-collar, a head, and a retracting-spring between said head and collar, a tack-conduit tube inserted diagonally through the headblock and opening into the plunger-tube adjacent to its lower end, a frame having upturnedends inserted in a recess in the front lower edge of the head-block, bevel-headed bolts mounted horizontally in the ends of said frame and adapted to slide therein in opposite directions and normally meeting each other through the scarf-openings in the sides of the plunger-tube, springs operating to hold said bolts in meeting contact, and an operating-handle secured to the head-block, in combination, as set forth.

2. In a combined carpet stretcher and tacker, the combination, with a toothed headblock having a lateral recess in the face there- IOO of, of a perforated frame contained in the said recess and having vertical arms, and blocks having inclined adjoining facing sliding on the horizontal portion of the-said frame on each side of the perforation therein, springs interposed between the said blocks and the vertical arm of the frame, a vertical tube within the said block registering with the perforation vin the frame and having a doublescarfed lower end normally entirely closed by the faces of the said blocks, a plunger adapted to be reciprocated within the said vertical tube, and an inclined tack-supplying tube connected with the said vertical tube, substantially as described.

In Witness whereof We have hereunto set our hands this 18th day of March, 1891.

VELINGTON A. ARNOLD. E. M. BABCOCK. In presence of- H. P. DENIsoN, C. XV. SMITH. 

